Week-end à Bordeaux
I haven't made any real entry for a while but I guess I should really post one now as Chris isn't here with me and can't write supAr long detailed entries for me :p
Sorry for the bad English but I'm too lazy to proof-read what I've just typed. Sorry about this terribly boring entry as well but now that I've typed it I might as well post it :p
So, last tuesday I left Paris and went back to my parents for the first time in over a year. Not much to say about life here as all I do is read, write, plan my trip to China, sort administrative stuff, etc. It's not too bad though, the worst thing is having to go into town from time to time. French towns and cities are really filthy and drivers are mad, it scares me :{ Paris was ok but small places like Saintes make me feel quite down :/
Anyways, on friday I took the train to Bordeaux. Good thing here is that taking the train is super cheap :} Basically going all the way to Bordeaux (200km+ journey) is about the same price as going to Heathrow from SG house :o And the journey takes about the same time as going to SGPH, I *think* it's a bit quicker actually. So yeah, quick/uneventful journey, makes me wonder why I haven't been to Bordeaux more often than that in the past really. I've been there only a couple of times before and I used to think it was far from here for some reason :o
Arrived in Bordeaux in the early afternoon and walked to the city center to visit the place a bit as it's changed quite a bit since last time I went there. The city center as been completely revamped and there are almost no cars left in it as they've replaced the main roads with tramway lines. The center is amazingly nice compared to what it used to be; and don't get me wrong, it was already quite nice before. :)
So yeah, Bordeaux is awesome ^_^
Anyway, went straight to the main shopping street and started looking at new shops and stuff. Made me realise I know nothing about life in France right now, things have changed a lot in the last 3 years and most places do feel quite foreign to me 0_o Found a nice Clamp shop and also noticed people are even more japfags than they used to be. Which is quite scary really, because I'm talking about normal-ish people here, not about geeky/nerdy people :o
After a while I went to a café/brasserie and was reminded there that you can't get food at any time in France, which is annoying :{ I was only like 2:50 as well, wasn't really a strange hour to get's a sandwich imo :o And I don't know if the place was just shit or if customer service in general is bad in France but both the waiter and the manager were terrible and rude, they clearly need someone like Tom to teach them how to treat customers :o
Anyways, after some more exploration fun I got a message from Greg who had finished his lessons. Yeah, forgot to mention it before but the main reason why I went to Bordeaux was to see Greg and Claire. Greg has been living in Bordeaux ~ since he came back from Nova Scotia and he's recently moved in with his girlfriend Claire, who was studying in Edimburgh but is now doing her 3rd uni year in France and next semester Germany.
So I met with Greg and it was nice to see him again <3 Hadn't seen him since my summer in Rennes and hadn't seen him on msn much recently so we had loads to talk about ^_^
Soon after meeting him we went to their place, and their apartment is huge :o And right in the city center :o I forgot renting nice apartments was relatively cheap outside of big cities :p They have a massive living room where they have enough space for both their desks, Claire's musical instruments, a tv and consoles, a nice sofa, a table, some kind of torture device meant to help getting fit, a big fish tank (and a second one soon),... And the place actually looks quite empty despite all these @_@ And the bathroom, kitchen and bedroom are a decent size as well :o
Claire was there when we arrived but she had to go to work (Ikea for fun, and I failed to find out if they sell Kopparberg there :{) so didn't get to talk to her much :/ She looked fantastic though and I think she's getting used to life in France ^^ We both agree that England is bettAr though :p
After she left Greg and I had some retro-ish fag fun: Claire got him a English NES a while ago and he showed me all his games, ie. not that many as French games don't work on UK NES and he can only buy new games on ebay on in England :/ Anyway, we played lots of Dr Mario (guess who won every single game even with higher difficulty settings ;)) and quite a bit of Bubble Bobble ^_^
Later his friend Julien came for some skunkweed fun (damn addicts :p) and after Claire finished work we went to our local Irish pub, where we can get's proper pints (ie. filled all the way to the top, which is not the norm in France wtf @_@ :{) and Strongbow :D
Nicest day of the week so far tbh, and the weather was mostly good as well ^_^
On saturday we did more or less the same kind of things, going shopping, being sad fags, just catching up and talking about life :) Talking about life with my Greg is always nice because we can just talk about everything. You know, being both Scorpios and all, we're just totally on the same wave length. So much that we can't stand spending too much time together tbh :p Being both annoying and stubborn we just can't help fighting over stupid stuff XD
In the evening after Claire came back from work we wanted to go to the cinema but it was too late to see something really interesting so we stayed in to watch The Royal Tenenbaums instead. Not going to spoil anything about it but it's very good, and if you like Wes Anderson movies you should definitely watch it. The fact that I identifies myself to Richie's character scares me a little bit but other than that it's very nice (actually no, nice isn't the right word, let's say it's... interesting) and we all enjoyed it ^_^
On sunday we were all lazy (bad ME for fun :/) and got up quite late. Went to the pub to have a supAr nice lunch and it made me realise I'm gonna miss pub food lots D: (yes, even bad poons food ^^;) Hopefully Chinese food will be yummytastic enough to make me forget about that :p While we were there Claire and I spent ages arguing with Greg and ganging up against him, it was fun :p Can't remember what we were talking about exactly but bit was mainly silly political stuff, I think we were really bored or something :p But again, this made me realise I'm a bad French who probably couldn't live in this country anymore :{ I think I love England too much :/
After going to the pub we went to the cinema as we wanted to watch Perfume: The Story of a Murderer. Going to the cinema in the middle of the afternoon was a bit sad as the weather was super nice but it was our only chance :/ But actually we were far from being the only ones who decided to go to the cinema instead of enjoying the sun and I have to say I was a bit surprised to see so many people there as it was a subbed showing in a UGC :o Looks like subbed/indie films are becoming more and more popular in France, which is definitely a good thing <3
Anyway, this movie is the adaptation of Patrick Süskind's Das Parfum, which is a book I enjoyed lots when I read it almost 10 years ago, and it's almost as good as the book. I feel like reading it again now. ^_^ If you haven't read the book you might not enjoy it as much but apparently Claire and Greg liked it too even though they hadn't read the book. They're elitist pricks like me though so their opinion might not be a good example :p Not sure what was the general opinion in the audience, some guy started snoring loudly right at the beginning but other than him most people seemed to be enjoying it XD Except for the prick that was sitting on the row right below me >:[ He kept commenting on how ridiculous it was near the end and he obviously didn't get what it was about at all (which was quite clear in my opinion, but again, noes spoipers here. But Alice, I'd love to discuss that with you at some point ^_^). :/
After going to the cinema we went for a walk in the city center as it was still light and really nice out, and we found a nice tea salon where we had yummy teas :D Lapsang Souchong an Jasmine Tea ftw ^__^ <3 That place ha a really nice atmosphere (tea salons with exotic furnitures and playing Pulp Fiction's OST = hell yeah :D) but we had to leave soon after because they were closing :/ Greg thought it would be a nice place to play chess so he asked the nice manager if they had chess sets but unfortunately they didn't :/ But she told us about a place a few streets away where they had games and stuff :D
So we went there, it was an Indian-ish place where you can smoke nargile and eat yummy cakes and drink lassis and stuff, it was really nice as well :D
So I played chess for the first time in like 15 years and I pwned Greg completely because he did a few really silly mistakes XD (I totally suck at chess btw) Knights and Bishops ftw ^_^ Makes me want to start playing again, hope I get the chance to do that in Shanghai :)
After that we went home and a Mexican guy called Luis joined us for a few hours for skunkweed (when I told you they were bad addicts :p and people are always like 'wtf' when I tell them I don't smoke @_@) and a few drinks (nice Cognac ftw ^_^), and after that he left and Claire went to bed as she starts early on mondays. Greg and I just did what we used to do all the time in first year, aka kept chatting until gone 3 :p Makes me feel kinda nostalgic as it was always good fun to go home in the middle of the night in Poitiers when there was literally no one else out XD
On monday I got up quite late and said byes and left. Was planning to go shopping before leaving but couldn't be arsed and walked straight to the station. There I found out I had just missed my train and had to wait for 2 hours + before the next one. Which was ok as I had my notepad and Ipod to keep me busy ^_^ I've been listening to lots of classical music lately and it's kinda inspiring ^_^
When I got to Saintes there was no taxi and I couldn't be arsed to call one so I just started walking home as the weather was nice and as I knew road works would make it much easier than normal (it's a ~9km walk, most of which following a big scary road but right now most of it is quiet as a big chunk as been completely closed). Took me ~2 hours to get home and it was funny to see that big road completely empty, imagine a silent hilly feeling but in the middle of a really green area :D (though noes worries, barking dogs were the worst peril I had to face :o) I like walking, it always makes me feel more alive than normal ^_^ My parents thought I was completely mad though XD
So yeah, had a nice week-end and now I have to finish planning my Shanghai trip properly before I can think of visiting my friends in North-East France and before I can start planning that hypothetical trip to Japan. I can't wait to go to Shanghai and feel more and more excited about it but at the same time it feels like everything I need to do will never get done in time :o
Anyway, that's it for now, next proper update when I'm in Tokyo or Shanghai I think :D
Sorry for the bad English but I'm too lazy to proof-read what I've just typed. Sorry about this terribly boring entry as well but now that I've typed it I might as well post it :p
So, last tuesday I left Paris and went back to my parents for the first time in over a year. Not much to say about life here as all I do is read, write, plan my trip to China, sort administrative stuff, etc. It's not too bad though, the worst thing is having to go into town from time to time. French towns and cities are really filthy and drivers are mad, it scares me :{ Paris was ok but small places like Saintes make me feel quite down :/
Anyways, on friday I took the train to Bordeaux. Good thing here is that taking the train is super cheap :} Basically going all the way to Bordeaux (200km+ journey) is about the same price as going to Heathrow from SG house :o And the journey takes about the same time as going to SGPH, I *think* it's a bit quicker actually. So yeah, quick/uneventful journey, makes me wonder why I haven't been to Bordeaux more often than that in the past really. I've been there only a couple of times before and I used to think it was far from here for some reason :o
Arrived in Bordeaux in the early afternoon and walked to the city center to visit the place a bit as it's changed quite a bit since last time I went there. The city center as been completely revamped and there are almost no cars left in it as they've replaced the main roads with tramway lines. The center is amazingly nice compared to what it used to be; and don't get me wrong, it was already quite nice before. :)
So yeah, Bordeaux is awesome ^_^
Anyway, went straight to the main shopping street and started looking at new shops and stuff. Made me realise I know nothing about life in France right now, things have changed a lot in the last 3 years and most places do feel quite foreign to me 0_o Found a nice Clamp shop and also noticed people are even more japfags than they used to be. Which is quite scary really, because I'm talking about normal-ish people here, not about geeky/nerdy people :o
After a while I went to a café/brasserie and was reminded there that you can't get food at any time in France, which is annoying :{ I was only like 2:50 as well, wasn't really a strange hour to get's a sandwich imo :o And I don't know if the place was just shit or if customer service in general is bad in France but both the waiter and the manager were terrible and rude, they clearly need someone like Tom to teach them how to treat customers :o
Anyways, after some more exploration fun I got a message from Greg who had finished his lessons. Yeah, forgot to mention it before but the main reason why I went to Bordeaux was to see Greg and Claire. Greg has been living in Bordeaux ~ since he came back from Nova Scotia and he's recently moved in with his girlfriend Claire, who was studying in Edimburgh but is now doing her 3rd uni year in France and next semester Germany.
So I met with Greg and it was nice to see him again <3 Hadn't seen him since my summer in Rennes and hadn't seen him on msn much recently so we had loads to talk about ^_^
Soon after meeting him we went to their place, and their apartment is huge :o And right in the city center :o I forgot renting nice apartments was relatively cheap outside of big cities :p They have a massive living room where they have enough space for both their desks, Claire's musical instruments, a tv and consoles, a nice sofa, a table, some kind of torture device meant to help getting fit, a big fish tank (and a second one soon),... And the place actually looks quite empty despite all these @_@ And the bathroom, kitchen and bedroom are a decent size as well :o
Claire was there when we arrived but she had to go to work (Ikea for fun, and I failed to find out if they sell Kopparberg there :{) so didn't get to talk to her much :/ She looked fantastic though and I think she's getting used to life in France ^^ We both agree that England is bettAr though :p
After she left Greg and I had some retro-ish fag fun: Claire got him a English NES a while ago and he showed me all his games, ie. not that many as French games don't work on UK NES and he can only buy new games on ebay on in England :/ Anyway, we played lots of Dr Mario (guess who won every single game even with higher difficulty settings ;)) and quite a bit of Bubble Bobble ^_^
Later his friend Julien came for some skunkweed fun (damn addicts :p) and after Claire finished work we went to our local Irish pub, where we can get's proper pints (ie. filled all the way to the top, which is not the norm in France wtf @_@ :{) and Strongbow :D
Nicest day of the week so far tbh, and the weather was mostly good as well ^_^
On saturday we did more or less the same kind of things, going shopping, being sad fags, just catching up and talking about life :) Talking about life with my Greg is always nice because we can just talk about everything. You know, being both Scorpios and all, we're just totally on the same wave length. So much that we can't stand spending too much time together tbh :p Being both annoying and stubborn we just can't help fighting over stupid stuff XD
In the evening after Claire came back from work we wanted to go to the cinema but it was too late to see something really interesting so we stayed in to watch The Royal Tenenbaums instead. Not going to spoil anything about it but it's very good, and if you like Wes Anderson movies you should definitely watch it. The fact that I identifies myself to Richie's character scares me a little bit but other than that it's very nice (actually no, nice isn't the right word, let's say it's... interesting) and we all enjoyed it ^_^
On sunday we were all lazy (bad ME for fun :/) and got up quite late. Went to the pub to have a supAr nice lunch and it made me realise I'm gonna miss pub food lots D: (yes, even bad poons food ^^;) Hopefully Chinese food will be yummytastic enough to make me forget about that :p While we were there Claire and I spent ages arguing with Greg and ganging up against him, it was fun :p Can't remember what we were talking about exactly but bit was mainly silly political stuff, I think we were really bored or something :p But again, this made me realise I'm a bad French who probably couldn't live in this country anymore :{ I think I love England too much :/
After going to the pub we went to the cinema as we wanted to watch Perfume: The Story of a Murderer. Going to the cinema in the middle of the afternoon was a bit sad as the weather was super nice but it was our only chance :/ But actually we were far from being the only ones who decided to go to the cinema instead of enjoying the sun and I have to say I was a bit surprised to see so many people there as it was a subbed showing in a UGC :o Looks like subbed/indie films are becoming more and more popular in France, which is definitely a good thing <3
Anyway, this movie is the adaptation of Patrick Süskind's Das Parfum, which is a book I enjoyed lots when I read it almost 10 years ago, and it's almost as good as the book. I feel like reading it again now. ^_^ If you haven't read the book you might not enjoy it as much but apparently Claire and Greg liked it too even though they hadn't read the book. They're elitist pricks like me though so their opinion might not be a good example :p Not sure what was the general opinion in the audience, some guy started snoring loudly right at the beginning but other than him most people seemed to be enjoying it XD Except for the prick that was sitting on the row right below me >:[ He kept commenting on how ridiculous it was near the end and he obviously didn't get what it was about at all (which was quite clear in my opinion, but again, noes spoipers here. But Alice, I'd love to discuss that with you at some point ^_^). :/
After going to the cinema we went for a walk in the city center as it was still light and really nice out, and we found a nice tea salon where we had yummy teas :D Lapsang Souchong an Jasmine Tea ftw ^__^ <3 That place ha a really nice atmosphere (tea salons with exotic furnitures and playing Pulp Fiction's OST = hell yeah :D) but we had to leave soon after because they were closing :/ Greg thought it would be a nice place to play chess so he asked the nice manager if they had chess sets but unfortunately they didn't :/ But she told us about a place a few streets away where they had games and stuff :D
So we went there, it was an Indian-ish place where you can smoke nargile and eat yummy cakes and drink lassis and stuff, it was really nice as well :D
So I played chess for the first time in like 15 years and I pwned Greg completely because he did a few really silly mistakes XD (I totally suck at chess btw) Knights and Bishops ftw ^_^ Makes me want to start playing again, hope I get the chance to do that in Shanghai :)
After that we went home and a Mexican guy called Luis joined us for a few hours for skunkweed (when I told you they were bad addicts :p and people are always like 'wtf' when I tell them I don't smoke @_@) and a few drinks (nice Cognac ftw ^_^), and after that he left and Claire went to bed as she starts early on mondays. Greg and I just did what we used to do all the time in first year, aka kept chatting until gone 3 :p Makes me feel kinda nostalgic as it was always good fun to go home in the middle of the night in Poitiers when there was literally no one else out XD
On monday I got up quite late and said byes and left. Was planning to go shopping before leaving but couldn't be arsed and walked straight to the station. There I found out I had just missed my train and had to wait for 2 hours + before the next one. Which was ok as I had my notepad and Ipod to keep me busy ^_^ I've been listening to lots of classical music lately and it's kinda inspiring ^_^
When I got to Saintes there was no taxi and I couldn't be arsed to call one so I just started walking home as the weather was nice and as I knew road works would make it much easier than normal (it's a ~9km walk, most of which following a big scary road but right now most of it is quiet as a big chunk as been completely closed). Took me ~2 hours to get home and it was funny to see that big road completely empty, imagine a silent hilly feeling but in the middle of a really green area :D (though noes worries, barking dogs were the worst peril I had to face :o) I like walking, it always makes me feel more alive than normal ^_^ My parents thought I was completely mad though XD
So yeah, had a nice week-end and now I have to finish planning my Shanghai trip properly before I can think of visiting my friends in North-East France and before I can start planning that hypothetical trip to Japan. I can't wait to go to Shanghai and feel more and more excited about it but at the same time it feels like everything I need to do will never get done in time :o
Anyway, that's it for now, next proper update when I'm in Tokyo or Shanghai I think :D